How to get the most out of yoga, without going to extremes
Today doctors and models do yoga, Canadian Prime Minister and Mayor of Chicago, Julianne Moore and Katy Perry. Even "real detectives" Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson regularly practice yoga. Why are there celebrities - each of us has an acquaintance who has been in retreat or at least once in his life attended a master class of some eminent coach. At every step, open yoga studios, designers create a special line of sportswear, and yoga mat, sticking out of a backpack, attracts less appreciating glances.
With the growing popularity of yoga, its reputation remains ambiguous. Entire debates periodically arise around the safety of this practice, although opponents mostly come up with dubious arguments. Add to this the twofold social image of yoga, quite sharply expressed in Russia: on the one hand, it is still convenient for someone to think that among the fans of yoga there are some hippies with dreadlocks or Vedic women, on the other hand, you will often see ardent crusaders from yoga who don’t fail to reproach others for not taking a serious attitude to practice. They will readily remind you of the eight steps of ashtanga yoga and the need for the strictest veganism, advise you to perform breathing exercises in accordance with the location of the planets, and order you to immediately leave samsara.
In the primary sense, yoga really includes a set of spiritual, mental and physical practices.
The ancient origin of yoga and its direct connection with Eastern religious practices do not at all prevent it from serving as an effective physical exercise and beneficially influencing our psyche, but it proves that yoga is an old school, time-tested. In the primary sense, yoga really includes a set of spiritual, mental and physical practices, they originated in different directions of Hinduism and Buddhism and are aimed at controlling the mental and physiological functions of the body in order to achieve an elevated spiritual and mental state. It is believed that yoga has evolved from the ascetic practices of the Vedic religion, and the concept of yoga is first mentioned in the Rigveda, the oldest monument of Indian literature, compiled around 1700-1100. BC er
In Europe, Arthur Schopenhauer was one of the first to study yoga - the inspiration for his philosophical views was, among other things, the ancient Indian treatises of the Upanishads. At the end of the XIX century, yoga in the West was promoted by the popular Indian guru Swami Vivekananda. Around the same time, yoga began to be interested in Russia, but with the advent of Soviet power, it became dangerous to study an ideologically alien phenomenon. Nevertheless, the enthusiasts were, and they were engaged mainly in the surviving books and samizdat. The hero of Pelevin’s novel Love for Three Tsukerbrins begins his mystical experience by reading similar books that belonged to his late relative, the Soviet “internal emigrant”.
In the middle of the 20th century, while in the USSR a reliable taboo was prevailing over yoga, in the USA and Europe it experienced another surge of interest, which has not subsided to this day. The largest modern gold sculpture by Mark Quinn, weighing 50 kg and worth 1.5 million pounds sterling, depicts Kate Moss sitting in a complex yoga pose - Dvi Pada Shirshasana.
← What seems impossible is quite achievable
Different attitudes of yoga have taken root in the West, most of them are part of the hatha yoga system. One of the most popular is Ashtanga Vinyasa, the modern syncretistic direction of Hatha Yoga. This is a dynamic practice, which includes sequences of asanas, interconnected by complexes of movements (vinyasas), performed in conjunction with breathing exercises (pranayama) and involving concentration and concentration of attention. Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is often chosen by those who want to lose weight: about 300 calories are burned during an hour of exercise and the metabolism is greatly accelerated.
Bikram yoga is also common among fitness enthusiasts: it is practiced in a heated room (38-40 ° C) with a certain humidity (40-50%). He founded the Indian Bikram Chowdhury, a renowned yoga champion: he allegedly managed to recover from a severe knee injury with the help of practice in a heated room. According to Bikram, Hatha Yoga is most effective in the hot Indian climate, and not at room temperature in the rooms of northern countries, so that it is necessary to create optimal humidity and temperature artificially.
There is fiery yoga, based on balance and weight distribution in cooperation with a partner, kundalini yoga, which, by principles and effect, is perhaps closer to meditation than to exercise, and even naked yoga (finally, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on leggings ). And in India and South America, the so-called yoga sport based on rhythmic gymnastics and aerobics is widespread, in which asanas are key elements.
In general, you can choose from a mass of directions of any intensity and dynamism. Each type of yoga is practiced at different levels of difficulty, developing skills from beginner to advanced. And if persuaded yogis, through many years of complex practice, strive to achieve moksha - full spiritual enlightenment and liberation, then the majority of “mere mortals” practice yoga to improve physical health and achieve mental balance, and in this part yoga has proven its effectiveness.
Yoga is not necessarily paired with meditation and may well work purely as a fitness
The most important thing that yoga teaches is to own your own body. Keep balance in the asana and feel comfortable in it will turn out only by feeling what muscles are involved in performing the position, and correctly distributing the weight of your body. This requires constant concentration of attention and concentration on the exercise, in yoga, these skills are determined by such concepts as, for example, Dristi and Dhyana.
While practicing yoga, we gradually learn to consciously relax the body. To fix the position even in the simplest asana or, especially, to stretch out in a more complicated pose, it is necessary to relax all those parts of the body and muscles that are not involved in the exercise. It is useless and even harmful to tense the neck while tilting or squeezing the toes in a position where only the abdominal muscles are involved, but we often do so only reflexively. The skill of muscle relaxation is useful not only for the effective and safe exercise in yoga and any other sport - this is an excellent prevention of muscle clamps and a way to relieve light muscle spasm from fatigue. When you sit at a computer for an hour, the thought of how great your body feels during and after yoga classes and how tense it is now makes you straighten your back and relax your neck, shoulders and hips.
Yoga teaches to relax not only muscles, but also consciousness. First of all, this is achieved through concentration of attention and deep breathing. The system of breathing exercises pranayama that accompanies yoga, in addition to the esoteric load, has quite understandable psychophysiological functions: it relaxes the body, changes the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, massages the internal organs and stimulates the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system by reflex stimulation.
← To achieve a high level of yoga under the force of all, regardless of gender or age
The techniques of concentration and a special approach to breathing link yoga with meditation, the purpose of which is to achieve inner concentration. Yoga does not necessarily go together with meditation and may well work purely as a fitness. Nevertheless, in modern practice - not only in the United States and Western Europe, but also in Russia - meditation finds more and more admirers: its beneficial effect on the psyche has been scientifically proven and confirmed by the personal experience of many people. Meditative concentration on breathing and body work is in itself an effective attention training and helps fight stress, because it helps to lower the level of cortisol secretion. In addition, such practices stimulate brain neuroplasticity, that is, the ability to build new cells and connections.
Research findings suggest that yoga can positively affect the functioning of internal organs, such as alleviating the symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, such as abdominal pain and soft tissue spasms, as well as irritable bowel syndrome. Scientists associate this effect not only with the mechanical component of asanas, but also with the very principles of practice (concentration, muscle relaxation, deep even breathing), which help to cope with stress, which often becomes the cause of disorders of the digestive system. For the same reason, yoga is an excellent tool in the fight against chronic insomnia: it is proven that regular practice helps to weaken the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and reduce cognitive and somatic arousal.
Good yoga asanas for well-coordinated work of the joints, and for the health of the spine. Doctors often prescribe yoga as a complementary method of treatment of intercostal neuralgia. In this case, doctors note that, for example, in the case of displacement of intervertebral discs and certain types of pinching of the spinal nerve, yoga can be both beneficial and harmful. In order not to aggravate existing problems and not to get new ones, you should avoid self-designation and seek advice from a doctor, as well as work under the guidance of an experienced and qualified trainer.
A competent yoga trainer is perhaps the main guarantee of a good practice. If you are generally healthy, know your body well and are confident in its abilities, you can also do it yourself, but first you need to spend a few lessons with a trainer, because not a single YouTube movie will control the exercise technique and will not pay attention to your the most common mistakes. The first thing to do is to decide what effect you want to achieve: lose weight, tighten your body shape, improve your general well-being or ease the signs of stress, and choose the direction of yoga in accordance with the goal. Here, Google help and subsequent consultations in yoga studios. The coach is chosen by trial and error - before you find your own, be prepared to go through more than one trial session.
At the beginning of the practice you should not try to master all the asanas at once - this is most likely not possible if you are not a professional gymnast. The first thing that a good trainer can grasp is that we are all stacked differently and each individual body has its own characteristics. So if something does not stretch or bend, it does not mean that you are a loser - for the necessary effect you are comfortable enough. In addition, all asanas have preparatory options that the coach offers to beginners. During classes, the main thing is to think less about everyday problems, not to hurry anywhere, to rely on your own feelings, not to compare yourself with the rest of the group and not to strain too much unnecessarily. These principles are good not only for sports, but also for life, and yoga will surely teach you how to apply them.
Photo: Wikipedia, Marc Quinn, De Nieuwe Yogaschool